Develops a project aimed at children from 9 to 11 years old to transmit knowledge about food, physical activity and self-esteem
The Murcian Health Service (SMS) has developed a project aimed at treating childhood obesity. To do this, a group of health professionals has received training as educators in this area with a team of experts from Barcelona, reported sources from the Autonomous Community.
The project, which stands out “for its innovative character”, is specifically focused on obese children born in 2011 and 2012, that is, between 9 and 11 years old, as well as their families, and has allowed more than 50 minors and their parents acquire healthy lifestyle habits that can be maintained in the future to avoid obesity-related diseases and achieve an overall improvement in health.
games and learning
Participation in this program has allowed these families to gain knowledge and skills on many topics closely related to obesity. This is achieved through games, experiences and peer learning, so that everyone learns from everyone.
During the sessions, the minors and their families, who have held the meetings simultaneously but in different spaces, have worked on aspects such as nutrition, physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, bullying, self-esteem, food labels and body image. This group intervention for the treatment of childhood obesity is part of the SMS strategy to reduce obesity within the framework of the Children’s Health Care Program for overweight and obesity’ (Piassor).
The figures for childhood obesity are high at a national and regional level, and some studies observe prevalences of overweight and obesity higher than the average in the Region of Murcia. In Spain, the ‘Aladdin 2019’ study concludes that four out of ten schoolchildren between the ages of 6 and 9 participating in the study were overweight, understood as being overweight and obese. In this study, 17.3% of the population studied had obesity. These data reinforce the need for these interventions, necessary to treat and to try to reduce obesity figures, says the SMS.
At the national level
Currently, overweight and obese minors are cared for in health centers through the health program for the prevention and management of child and adolescent overweight and obesity. However, there are cases in which obesity is already established due to its multifactorial origin, which is why they require a comprehensive intervention, both in the child and in his family, hence the launch of this initiative, aimed at helping both minors as well as their families, the note points out.
This intervention, based on a comprehensive vision of obese minors through the ‘Niñ@s en Movimiento’ Programme, developed by its creators at the Vall D’Hebron hospital, has been launched in various parts of Spain and now in the Region of Murcia.
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